Rise of the Darkness (Take 2)
by ghost company
Summary: For years she had been locked away. Her worst fears had come to light. Yet the Forerunners couldn't hold her. She knew this. She had seen it. One day... One day the Forward Unto Dawn would set her free.
1. chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everybody! I am back with another story... Well, a rewrite actually. If you all will recall, I wrote a story a while back that held the same name. To make a long story short, it had several issues with the plot, characters, dialogue, and just about everything else.**

 **Because of this, I liked the concept but not the execution, I decided to do a rewrite. However, the future of this rewrite is in your guys' hands. I NEED to know if you guys want this to continue. If you do, than I will keep writing. If not, I will move on and let it fade into obscurity as an unresolved one shot.**

 **So, with all of that noted, I give you chapter 1 (take 2)...**

The space was an endless void of black, broken up by the occasional twinkle of a far off star. In the depths of this void, a ship drifted toward seemingly nothing. It's flashing red and blue lights were all that stood visible against the black backdrop. Yet, it was not alone. Concealed by this very same darkness was a planet. Despite the title, it was not a natural formation, but instead a prison. Within that prison were two beings, one awake and one asleep. Both were held in by the strongest force in the Galaxy- gravity.

At first glance inside, this planet did not appearto be a prison.The air was warm as a slight breeze held it to a comfortable temperature. There was nothing but clear blue sky as far as the eyes could see, and there were no restrictions on where the awake prisoner could go. However, the woman knew better. This was a prison. She did not have truly "free reign". She did not get to alter this planet as she wished. More importantly, she could not leave.

"Soon. Soon, you will set me free," the Woman muttered to herself as she walked down the narrow trail.

She could sense him up there. He was sleeping as he had been for the last seven years. However, even in sleep, his power radiated outward from the broken ship. He was no force sensitive, but he was a man to be respected in combat none-the-less. To some like the Covenant, and even her sleeping partner, he posed a real threat. However, she did not fight like them. She had no wish to fight this man. For now, she had use of him, and for that reason she waited. Time did not matter. Concepts such as death and age had long since fallen away. These trivial things meant nothing to her in this prison, and so she waited.

The woman stopped at the edge of a jagged cliff and closed her eyes. She could feel it. The planet was coming alive. The ship was finally close enough to warrant an inspection for Flood forms. This continued for the next several minutes. Each sensory wave was slightly different than the last. Finally, it happened all at once. The Force surged with lifeformsas they suddenly amassed outside of her prison. Emotions spiked. Anger, greed, and determination all came rushing forth within these newcomers. Then, a minute later, the man in question woke up. She could feel it almost like a glow-rod being turned up to a brighter setting.

"It's about time, Cortana," she mumbled.

If that A.I were truly smart, she would have woken him well before now. But of course, certain exceptions had to be made for constructs falling into rampancy. Yet it proved not to matter. For the next several minutes, she felt various lifeforms wink out in the force entirely. The dead were serving as a testimony to the greatness of her plan. She needed not fear for the man's safety up there. This allowed her to simply enjoy the mayhem through what the force would show.

All the time, she could feel the planet continuing its rise from the ranks of the dead. It was waking up, preparing to take more captives. Oh, yes. There was all kinds of enjoyment to be had.

The fight escalated to its climax as a concentrated cry of alarm and horror shot through the force. Suddenly it fell to relative silence as hundreds of the contributing beings were silenced for eternity. Those left alive were nothing but weak, dying signatures in the force. As if taking its cue from the explosion, the planet finished its awakening and opened itself up. The woman felt brief hope for escape. However, it was savagely crushed as the gravity well increased power. As ships were sucked in, she reached for the only human in the mess. With him being sucked in without the protection of a ship, she needed to intervene.

She guided him as he streaked past debris. He would twist himself up, down, left, and right in attempts to get through the deadly obstacle course. Of course he thought that his own reflexes were guiding him. Theknowledge of thisannoyed the woman. However, she reasoned that what he didn't know wouldn't kill him… yet.

The Chief let out a muted groan as he attempted to blink open his eyes. As he mentally took stock of his body, the Spartan was starting to think that Sergeant Johnson's prediction had come true. The Chief had finally crashed into something harder than himself. The idea of letting sleep carry him away was tempting.However, sound of Cortana calling into his ear brought him around. With a shake of the head, he banished the previous thought from his head. He was alive. That was what mattered. As long as he was alive, he had things to do.

"You can sleep when you're dead," barked a voice from somewhere in his head.

He couldn't readily place who the voice belonged to, but it didn't matter. That had seemed to be the motto all throughout his training, and now was a perfect time for that kind of encouragement.

"Chief, come on! Wake up. We have to move," Cortana was urging.

Satisfied that he could move, the Spartan slowly picked himself up out of the pile of debris he had landed in.

"I'm awake," he declared as he sat up.

"Thank goodness," the A.I. responded with audible relief, "How was the nap?"

"I've had better," the Chief stated flatly, as his gaze drifted across the debris field.

In his immediate field of view were large pieces of a Covenant battle cruiser that had been ripped apart as it came crashing down. All around were scattered slabs of armor and frame work that were easily the size of a scarab. In the patchwork of shadows looming created by the crash, fires burned from various flammable parts. As he walked, the Chief noticed pieces of the Forward Unto Dawn intermixed and sometimes stabbed into pieces of the battle cruiser.

"Glad we didn't stay on the ship," Cortana commented.

The Chief did little more than nod his head as he tossed aside a slab of grey armor. He was immediately greeted with an energy sword wielding Elite. Lacking a weapon, the Chief backed away from the opening. However, instead of rushing him, the injured Elite stumbled forward. The steps were quick, but uncertain, and failed to carry the Elite very far very fast. As the Elite struggled to stay upright, the Chief caught sight of the blood pouring out of its side. The being weakly mumbled something in his native language before collapsing onto the dirt. After waiting a few seconds to ensure the Elite's death, the Chief scooped up his energy sword and continued onward.

"How bad is it?" the Chief asked as he picked his way through the debris.

"It's bad. The entire fleet got pulled into that gravity well. The Covenant battle-net's a mess. There's no clear leadership and the survivors are scattered across several square kilometers," Cortana explained.

"At least they left a trail of supplies," the Chief commented offhandedly as he scooped up a couple stray plasma grenades.

"That they did," she agreed.

To say they had left a trail of supplies was both an over and an understatement. The Chief had managed to load out with a Carbine for his main weapon, a Magnum on his right side, energy sword on his left, and about as many plasma grenades as he could reasonably carry. Yet, despite all of this, he was lacking any kind of motorized transportation. This made travel slow and almost tedious, with only the occasional Covenant soldier to give him trouble.

After about an hour of silent walking, Cortana spoke up, "Huh… It-it… appears that one of the Warthogs survived the fall fr-from space. I have a live beacon about a half click north of here on the other s'de this canyon."

The Chief came to a stop as he heard her speak. Something was wrong. He had heard it on the ship and he was hearing it now.

"Cortana, are you alright?" he asked with a stern edge.

"I-I'm fine. Let's see about getting to that Warthog," Cortana answered quickly.

"Cortana?" he pressed.

The distortion in her voice had said differently, and the Chief wasn't satisfied with her response.

"Look, the Covenant are starting to pull themselves together. It's best if we get clear of this fleet as fast as possible. I'll explain what's going on with me later. Right now, we need to get to that Warthog," she answered urgently.

The Chief didn't like her response. Yet, never-the-less, he took off for the blue waypoint Cortana had placed on his heads-up display.

The woman relaxed slightly as the Spartan started walking again. Years of watching had told her that directly influencing him would be difficult at best and counterproductive at worst. Instead she had chosen to take the more interesting route. Cortana was based off a human-being. Her construction was minutely, but sufficiently, organic. With rampancy setting in, Cortana was the woman's way of controlling the Chief. The trick would be ensuring that he continued to trust and rely on her as much as he currently did.

However, it didn't matter at the moment. With the beacon active and Covenant forces suddenly more interested in salvaging their equipment than chasing a lone human, she had little to worry about. Things could now fall into place more naturally, with a less intervention on her part.

( **GSS Resolute: Somewhere in the Outer Rim** )

Admiral Yularen stared out the viewport in awe. Outside, he could see a glowing, dark blue orb slightly bigger than his ship. Reaching out from it were tentacles of lighter, blue light that bathed the topside of the Resolute in a ghostly light. After a few seconds of staring, he realized they were still drifting from the abrupt exit from hyperspace.

"All stop," he ordered.

"All stop," echoed the ship's Captain.

"All stop. Aye," acknowledged the helmsman.

The Admiral waited until he was satisfied that the ship had come to a true stop before carrying on.

"Tell engineering to do a second stage inspection. I don't want any nasty surprises when we leave. While they're working, get me a sensory report on that… that thing," the Admiral ordered as he struggled on what to call the object.

As the Captain went to carry out his orders, the rear blast doors hissed open. Turning toward the war room, Admiral Yularen locked eyes with General- no- Master Skywalker. Even after a year and a half, the Admiral was still not used to Jedi not having a military rank.

"What… is that?" Anakin asked as he amended his question mid-sentence.

"That, Skywalker, is what we are trying to find out," the Admiral replied as he gestured back toward the viewport.

As he finished speaking, the deck suddenly shifted under them. There was a whine as the ship's thrusters powered up in an attempt to match the ship's sudden acceleration. Down in the crew pit, there was a sudden, panicked flurry of activity.

"Kriff! I'm forcing a shutdown of engine 1 now."

"This is tower control to medical, requesting any available corpsman go to engineering. Multiple injuries, at least one immobile."

"Engine 2 is heating up. Compartment 1, you have fifteen seconds, get him out. I need to fire the engine. Something's wrong. We need to compensate," barked the first officer.

"This is helm, to engineering. Clear out. I need the engines active," added an officer from the other side.

"What's happening?" the Admiral demanded as he hurried over, with Anakin in tow.

"The object is pulling us in," the Captain answered as he darted from one station to the next, "However, we have several Engineers that are inside doing the inspection. Until their out, we can't counter, or we'll kill them."

"What of the injuries that did happen?" Anakin quizzed.

"The override system failed on Engine 1. As a result, the engine powered up in response to the sudden pull, and caught a handful of men. We transferred power to engine 2 since it was clear, but the excess energy is overloading the core," the Captain explained quickly.

Admiral Yularen swore to himself before addressing the Captain, "Get them out, and balance the engines. In the meantime… Just get it done and keep me posted."

"Yes sir." the Captain concluded before issuing further orders to the men.

"And get me that sensor report," the Admiral added as he turned to a set of officers on the far left side of the bridge.

"Admiral?" Anakin asked carefully.

There was a sharp distaste in the Admiral's words that Anakin only heard when one of his or someone else's hair brained stunts came back to bite everyone.

Admiral Yularen gave the question no chance to hang before answering sharply, "We just got done with a combat operation. The shields are damaged and we are spotted with hull patches. On top of that, this ship has been due for an overhaul since before the end of the war, and it's showing. It shouldn't take the Force to understand my issue."

Anakin nodded. That he understood. The Admiral was showing his anger at those that had caused this. Attempts to disband the military had been stopped short, but at the cost of crucial funding that left many ships without necessary upgrades or maintenance.

"Captain, engines are clear and balancing," called a crewman.

"Reverse, full power. Get us out of this field," the Captain quickly ordered.

Anakin and Admiral Yularen both shifted their weight to counter the sharp reduction in speed. A high pitched drone could be heard reverberating through the deck as the engines and reactor struggled to counteract both the ship's forward momentum and the pull of the object. A tense silence fell over the bridge as the bridge officers focused intensely on their assigned duties.

"What's our reactor power?" the Admiral quizzed as he felt the ship come to a stop.

"Seventy percent and spinning up to one hundred percent," replied the Captain.

"Good."

Suddenly the ship lurched forward. Yet, that wasn't the immediate concern. For Admiral Yularen, it was the ripple of concerned murmurs coursing through his bridge. For Anakin, it was the lack of reactor noise. Instead of increasing to compensate with the sudden motion, it was growing quieter, almost like-

"Sir, the reactor is failing. We're losing power rapidly," the Captain urgently reported.

This threw everyone into overdrive. Taking control of the chaos, Admiral Yularen started barking orders. As he was working, Anakin reached out toward the object with the force. Oddly enough he felt no real danger associated with it. Once he worked past the wash of alarm and fear radiating off the crew, Anakin almost felt like there was a small voice whispering for him to go. Despite the situation, he felt no danger.

"Admiral?" pleaded the Captain with a look of horror on his face.

In response, Admiral Yularen turned to Anakin with a similar expression. For once, Anakin could only stand and watch as the ship's hull began to pixelate against the glowing blue object. Then after several seconds, the bridge itself collided with the object. Out of reflex, Anakin braced himself against the nearby bulkhead as the world went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! It appears as though there is interest in this rewrite (probably more than there was for the original).**

 **With this chapter, I should note that this is an AU in which Anakin never became Darth Vader. However, there might be some minor changes with Anakin's character. I can't imagine anyone going through what he goes through without changing some.** **That said, I would love to know what you all think. Do you all want more? Is there something I need to fix? What did you all like?**

 **So, without further ado, I give you chapter 2...**

* * *

 **(Unknown System: 1 hour later)**

The Chief ducked as several more plasma bolts streaked overhead. Leaning out from cover, the Chief let his shields take the brunt of the abuse as he tossed a couple plasma grenades. The first stuck to a Spec Ops Elite while the other one stuck to the front end of a ghost. The Elite's final yell was drowned out by the twin explosions. The Elite had been blown across the clearing with a river blood following him, while the Ghost had been blown into three different pieces. As his shields reloaded, the Spartan slowly moved forward with a raised Carbine.

Sprawled out across the small valley were the remains of several Covenant- or rather, "Storm" as Cortana informed him- troopers. Intermixed, were the remains of a Wraith and three Ghosts. In the center was his, now destroyed, Warthog. He was lucky enough to have jumped before the blast hit the vehicle.

"Apparently they forgot what 'search and rescue' means," the Chief commented as he stepped over a dead Jackal.

"N-no, you just… be th-th-there," she answered as she tried fighting through the rampancy.

The Chief nodded as he silently racked his brain for ideas on how to fight Cortana's rampancy. She had explained the process of her literally "thinking herself to death" to him. However he ended up in the firefight before he could think of an idea of how to solve it. Then like a bolt of lightning, the idea hit him.

"You're designed from a human… Dr. Halsey!" he exclaimed as he mentally put the pieces together, "If we can get you back to Halsey, she should be able to fix you."

There was a moment of silence as Cortana thought over the idea.

"She may not be able to. Before we left, the UNSC hadn't figured out how to cure rampancy," Cortana answered.

"A lot can change in seven years. Unless you have another option, we don't have a choice," he countered as he started making his way up the hillside.

"It's worth a-"

Cortana's voice was replaced by static. In the background, the Chief thought he could hear faint voices. Though, he could not understand any words.

"Cortana?" he asked with worry.

"That wasn't me. The suit intercepted a signal, but lost it to interference. Let me try to get it back," she explained with the verbal equivalent of a thoughtful frown.

Silence reigned again as the Chief froze in place. As Cortana silently worked, the Chief raised his carbine and turned in a slow circle. At the same time, he cast frequent glances up to his motion tracker. Being out in the open like this ran against the Spartan's every instinct. However, it would help receive a clear signal. It also allowed him to look for any obvious jammers.

"I can't clear up the signal, or even get it back. However, it appears to be being jammed from somewhere," Cortana informed him.

"Covenant?" the Chief quizzed.

"No. Whomever is doing this is much better than the Covenant. Remember, we had off world communication on Reach for most of the battle," she answered with a mix of worry and admiration.

The Chief nodded. He remembered that battle more than he really wanted to.

"Can you at least tell where it's being jammed from?" he pursued.

"Not exactly. However, it's coming from somewhere inside that tower behind you," she answered quickly.

The Chief turned toward the summit. He quickly saw the structure she was talking about. It's point peaked over the ridge like an energetic child trying to play hide-and-seek. With that knowledge, the Chief continued his hike up the hill. As he rounded the top of the hill, he froze. The vertigo tried setting in instantly. A shear cliff went downward as far as his eyes could see. Opposite of that was a large Forerunner tower that also seemed to stretch into oblivion. Connecting the two sides was a bridge easily big enough to fit two Wraiths side-by-side.

After a quick search, the Chief found a slightly narrower pathway leading down. The hike felt like forever, but the Chief finally got down to the bridge. The silence was almost disconcerting as the Chief made his way to the tower.

"Chief, we have a problem," Cortana declared with a worried edge.

"What sort of problem?"

"Whomever is in charge of the Storm forces knows that you're here, and doesn't want you in that tower. All units are being ordered to converge on the building," Cortana explained.

"Looks like we'll have to be quick," he declared as he checked the charge on his carbine.

With that he took off through the entryway.

* * *

The woman calmly watched as the Elite Spec Ops team made its way toward her. She sensed confusion as leader came to a stop in front of her. Clearly he was off put by finding a second human.

"A human ship crashes with your fleet, and yet you are surprised by a second human," she noted with a sly smile.

The Elite quickly recovered and raised his plasma rifle in response.

"Is that any way to treat a lady?" she asked in mock disgust.

The team opened fire in response. Using the Force, she absorbed the plasma bolts as she rushed forward. The shields quickly failed on two of the Elites as she assaulted them with Force lightning. She used the force to send two grunts tumbling across the ground. With a subtle touch with the Force, she activated the plasma grenades on one of them. A deafening explosion drowned out the cry of pain from another Elite as she used the Force to plunge an energy sword into his back. The fight was chaotic but quick. The fight soon ended as she made quick work of the squad. The woman allowed a sadistic grin as she looked at the bodies. The bloody scene was sure to attract the attention of Storm forces.

"There Spartan, I'm doing you a favor. Now do me a favor," she ordered to seemingly no one.

* * *

The room was alive with plasma fire as more Elites stormed into the room. The Chief ducked behind a wall as he changed out cartridges. Leaning out, he emptied most of it into an Elite. Shifting his aim, he put the last few shots into a Jackal. He unclipped a couple plasma grenades. He stuck the first to a Jackal's shield, and the second to the top of a barrier that a couple Elites were using for cover. The twin blasts blew three Jackals across the room, killed one Elite, and dropped the shields on the other. A simple shot to the head dealt with him.

The Chief spotted an opening and sprinted forward. His shields flared with the impact of plasma bolts. However, his defenses held as he drove a combat knife into the neck of an Elite and produced his Magnum. He said a silent "thank you" to overpowered side arms as he traded fire with the remaining Elites. After a couple more minutes of fighting, he finally finished the last one off with a shot to the head.

As the alien hit the ground, he looked around the room. Satisfied that he wasn't going to die from a plasma bolt or needle to the back, he turned around and went sprinting up through the maze of passages and rooms.

"Cortana, where am I going?" he quizzed as he found himself at the four-way intersection of two passages.

"Go left. If I'm understanding this correctly, there sh-should be a li-ift up ahead," Cortana answered in a rampancy affected voice.

The Chief pushed the worry out of his head as he turned and went down the grey walled passage. As he continued, the Chief could see the occasional blip appear on the bottom edge of his motion tracker. He was running out of time and knew it.

"Huh, that's odd," Cortana commented, "It appears that the Storm just lost a Spec Ops team."

"I'm not surprised. We did make quite a mess," he replied offhandedly as he turned a corner.

"Not here. It was team sent to help search for any secondary entrances to the tower," she corrected.

"What kind of injuries," the Chief quizzed as he felt a surge of apprehension.

"Unusual ones… If the battle net is to be believed, we're talking about electrical burns, dismemberment, broken limbs, and explosive fatalities," she replied.

Even without seeing her face, the Chief could picture the disbelief on her face.

"So we are clear, this 'Storm' and us are the only ones who crashed on this planet, right?" the Chief asked.

"As far as I can tell. Given what little we know of the planet, I'd venture to say that it's most likely someone living here," Cortana confirmed.

The Chief nodded as he stepped into the lift. After activating the lift, he had a moment to stop and think. However, that did little to clear things up. The more he thought about things, the less it made sense. However, his musings were interrupted as a radio transmission. Like the last one, he could hear faint voices over the screeching of feedback, but this time they were different.

"I think I heard something that time," he noted.

"Yes, I-I was able to clean up part of the sig- signal. Whatever-r-r is broadcasting that signal isn't Storm or Forerunner," Cortana agreed as the rampancy flared again.

"Human?"

"I think-'We've asked you to give up your home and your life.'" Cortana suddenly declared in an unusually deep voice.

"What was that?" the Chief demanded as worry started to creep into his voice.

A failing A.I. was the last thing he needed right now.

"It's nothing… just part of the rampancy. We need to keep moving," she answered hesitantly.

He nodded as he stepped out of the lift. The grey passages seemed to ascend forever. Though he didn't say anything, the Chief noticed that all signs of pursuit had disappeared.

"That's odd. I can't seem to listen in on the battle net, all I keep getting is static," Cortana noted, "I wonder if it has anything to do with the lack of pursuit."

"Proximity to whatever is jamming us?" the Chief ventured.

"No. That's a broad channel jammer of some kind. Whatever is jamming the Storm's transmissions is single channel, and it's dialed in to their frequency," Cortana answered.

The Chief mentally logged the information as he kept moving. He really didn't want to think about what could be worrying them enough to break off pursuit. The last time he had seen the Covenant scared was when they unleashed the Flood, and he was praying that they had learned from the first two encounters.

* * *

The woman watched as the Wraith swung around toward her. She tossed the first plasma round to the left. The next one flew wide to the right. The woman grinned as she reached out with the Force and squeezed. Purple metal warped inward, sparks flew, and electricity arched as she slowly crushed the vehicle. The woman felt a measure of satisfaction as she crushed the vehicle down to a mass of metal and blood slightly bigger than herself.

She was snapped out of her reverie as a burst of twin plasma shots streaked past her. Spinning around, she sent the metal ball streaking toward the approaching Ghosts. The leader had no time to react before being crushed. The second one jerked away fast enough to avoid the same fate. Instead, he was thrown to the side like a pin in a bowling alley.

Surveying the damage, the woman decided that jamming the Storm's comms was the best decision she had made. She had not only forced them to forget her helper in favor of her, but they were so hopelessly confused that no one could organize a reasonable hunt for her. With a grin, the woman vanished into thin air as she went to look for more trouble.

* * *

 **(Location: Unknown)**

Was he dead? Was he alive? How long had he been here? Anakin didn't know. All he knew was that there was nothing. He felt nothing under him. He felt nothing above him. He was just there, suspended in a void blacker than the space in which he had been traveling. He lifted his hand so that it was in front of him. At least that's where he thought it was. Oddly enough, he had barely felt the movement and he did not see the hand.

 _Pop!_

Blinding light assaulted he senses. Anakin reflexively covered his eyes, but stumbled as he was pushed by some invisible force. He quickly blinked as he caught his balance. As the light slowly gave way, grey, geometric structures filled in the space. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, his full range of senses returned and he found himself standing on the bridge of the Resolute. A groan caught his attention, turning, he found the Admiral trying to pick himself up from the holotable he had been tossed against.

"Are you alright?" Anakin asked as he helped the man up.

The Admiral didn't immediately answer as his eyes drifted to the viewport.

"I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about that," Admiral Yularen finally answered as he pointed to the viewport.

Anakin quickly glanced over and saw what he was talking about.

"Which part… the planet or the hole in the middle?" Anakin questioned with an air of unease.

"All of it," Admiral Yularen mumbled as he watched his bridge crew put itself back together.

Everyone moved as fast as their bodies would allow as they attempted to re-man their stations.

"What's our status?" the Admiral finally demanded.

"Power is still down. We have power to some of the maneuvering thrusters, but nothing else," reported a crewman.

"Weapons are down."

"Shields are recycling."

"Isolated power fluctuations in the forward hanger."

"Gravity generators are cycling in section 4A"

The reports came in so fast that Admiral Yularen almost had to make the crewmen slow down. However, he got the point. For the foreseeable future, their ship was a crippled mass of durasteel that may or may not have cover from fighters.

Next to him, Anakin suddenly felt an air of apprehension, and it had nothing to do with the ship. A sudden coldness swept over him, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Reaching into the Force, he felt nothing but darkness. Suddenly the Force shouted an alarm.

"Fire the thrusters! Get us away from that planet," Anakin suddenly barked.

Startled, everyone turned to him.

"Did I stutter? Reverse power," Anakin pressed urgently.

The helmsman turned to follow through with the orders, and Admiral Yularen turned to stop him.

"Admiral, a word please?" Anakin requested, stopping the Admiral mid word.

Once they were away from the crewmen, it was Admiral Yularen who started.

"Do you care to tell me what that was?" the Admiral demanded.

"Yes. Something's wrong. I can't make you do it, but I strongly suggest keeping the ship away until we can get a sensory scan of the planet," Anakin explained.

"Sensors are down. I don't know how long it will be until they're up," the Admiral argued.

"Admiral. There is something very dangerous down there. I need you to trust me," Anakin pressed.

"What kind of dangerous thing?" the Admiral quizzed.

"I'm not totally sure, except that it is strong," Anakin paused as he thought over everything.

"What, like a-"

Admiral Yularen was interrupted as the Captain approached him.

"Sir, we were able to get the baseline sensors operational…" the Captain started before pausing to collect his thoughts.

"And?" Anakin pressed.

"And that hole's a gravity well. If we hadn't pulled away, we would have been pulled through," the Captain finished.

No one immediately responded as the Admiral and Anakin locked eyes. The Admiral wanted to be upset. He wanted to be mad that Anakin had, again, cut into his chain of command. However, he couldn't- not after the Jedi just saved countless lives. Rising to the perceived the challenge, Anakin just stood there. Since the end of the war and Palpatine's rapid, violent fall from grace, he had been trying to prove himself. This was just another step in that process.

Finally the Admiral let out a sigh as he broke the silence, "Tell the helm to hold station. Get fighters out in a full screen, and focus on getting the point defenses on line."

"Admiral," called a crewman from the sensor stations, "We're picking up another ship in the system."

"Where?" demanded the Admiral as he lead the way over.

"They're making their way toward the planet," the officer replied quickly as he pointed to his screen.

"Have they lost their mind?" the Admiral mumbled to himself before turning to the Captain, "Hail the ship. Wave them off, before they're pulled in."

"Sir, receivers are online, but the comms are still recovering. We may not be able to reach the ship in time," the Captain warned as he wavered in his steps.

"Just do it, Captain," Anakin cut in forcefully.

"Yes sir," the Captain replied crisply as he turned to carry out his orders.

Next to Anakin, the Admiral silently shook his head. Skywalker may be reckless and impulsive, but at least the kid was decisive.

"I'm going over to communications. Let me know if anything changes with that ship," Admiral Yularen ordered.

Anakin simply nodded as he stared at the screen. Were those orders an attempt to get him out of the way? He didn't know. Probably, but then again, Anakin could think of worse ways to be booted out of the way.

"How big is she?" he asked the operator.

"Big sir. From what I'm getting, she's about three miles long," the officer answered.

Anakin raised an eyebrow. That was bigger than anything the Republic of CIS had ever fielded.

"Any shields?" he pursued.

"There could be. However, the interference off that planet is making it hard to tell," the man replied with a frown as his fingers carefully moved across the controls.

Finally, after a few minutes of watching the ship, Anakin let out a sigh. By this point, his fascination with the ship had worn off, and the Admiral was back to his usual spot at the center of the bridge.

"Anything?" he asked as he walked over.

"No. With the comms down, we can't reach them," the Admiral answered with a frown.

"Are we getting any chatter?" Anakin followed up.

"Yes, but it's going to take time to decrypt," Admiral Yularen confirmed.

Anakin shook his head. That did absolutely nothing to help them now. He went to speak, but was stopped as he felt the sensation of a cold tentacle slithering up his spine. The tentacle traveled up his spine and into his head. He quickly slammed up his mental shields up as he felt it attempt probe his mind. Then it was gone. The sudden end to the sensation startled Anakin. Looking over, he saw the Admiral stare at him with a look of worry.

"What is it?" the Admiral asked.

"Whatever's down there just tried to… It… Something's not right. I'm gonna have Rex put together a recon detachment," Anakin finally declared as he tried to explain what he felt.

Without waiting for a reply he turned for the rear blast doors.

"Wait… What? Now, hold it," the Admiral called.

However, the only reply was the sound of the doors snapping shut behind Anakin. With a string of muttered curses, the Admiral took off after him. As he raced to catch up with Anakin, Admiral Yularen was reminded of his increasing age. The sprint down the command tower nearly killed the aging officer. After what felt like forever, he finally caught up to the Jedi.

"Anakin, what are you doing?" the Admiral demanded between breaths.

"Something's wrong," Anakin snapped as he spun around.

"What is this 'something'? Why do we care?" the Admiral pressed as he physically grabbed Anakin's robe, "I have to sign off on any operations. With a crippled ship and no idea of where we're at, you are going to need to do better than 'something's wrong'."

Anakin froze as he let out a sigh as he attempted to slow himself down.

"Do you remember Palpatine?" he quizzed.

"Yes. I nearly got caught in the political backlash," Admiral Yularen affirmed with an ever hardening frown.

"The Force radiates darkness off men like him. When the user can't mask it, this darkness can be sensed. The stronger the user, the further away it can be detected," Anakin explained.

"Ok. Now that I have my crash course in the Force, why does it matter?" the Admiral prodded impatiently.

He did not like being away from the bridge for so long.

"Palpatine killed three Masters and nearly crippled a fourth. He was powerful. This user, is worse. Palpatine had the strength to level the entire government district. If put in the same situation, I would be worried about this person reducing Coruscant's entire population to zero," Anakin finished.

For once the Admiral paused. He honestly didn't know what to say. The idea of that kind of power seemed unimaginable. However, so did the idea of an old politician killing three Jedi and sentencing the fourth to an extended stay in a bacta tank.

"I made the mistake of ignoring a threat like this once. I won't do it again," Anakin stated5 after a few seconds.

The Admiral slowly nodded as he replied, "I'll sign off on Torrent Company only. We'll keep monitoring comms from up here. However, you are without close air support. Until we have guns and shields on line, they are our only defense."

"Understood, I'll keep you informed," Anakin agreed before rushing to continue his previous task.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone. I know it's been a while and this is a short chapter, but I had it done and with school turning into a mess, I'm not sure when I will be able to update next. So, I chose to go out with this chapter. I hope you all like it, and I would love to know what you all think (be it good or bad).**

 **So, without further ado, I give you chapter 5...**

* * *

 **(Planetary surface: thirty minutes earlier)**

A series of rapid pings spun the Chief around from the console he had been staring at. Off of either side of the narrow walkway, groups of bluish, white orbs materialized. All at once, the twenty or so orbs began to take shape as two meter high, grey humanoids. In the hand of each one was a weapon of some kind.

"Cortana, mark a waypoint out of this station," the Chief ordered as he leveled his Carbine.

"Just a-"

"Get me a waypoint out of here," he interrupted as his body tensed.

A snarl emanated from somewhere in the crowd. The next second seemed to drag for eternity as the Chief watched the top end of his motion tracker go from blue to an almost solid red color.

"Cortana?"

"There! Pull me and go!" Cortana shouted as a blue portal appeared.

Despite the gravity of the situation, the Chief felt himself hesitate as he inserted Cortana's chip into his helmet. Something about jumping into a wall of black and blue didn't sit right.

"Chief, go! We need to move," Cortana urged.

Overcoming his sense of worry, the Chief sprinted toward the right edge of the platform. The Spartan put his full force into the jump as he lept off of his last step. He reflexively squeezed his eyes shut as his body disappeared into the void. The next few seconds were hard to describe. His muscles tensed as though taking the brunt of an impact, yet nothing was under his feet. The space felt small, yet he saw nothing except black emptiness around him. Then as quickly as the feeling appeared, it was gone. The black emptiness gave way to grey walls and an all too solid floor as the Chief came tumbling out of the portal. Using every ounce of his augmented reflexes and strength, he twisted his body out of the tumble and came up on his feet with his Magnum leveled.

A brief visual scan of the room revealed that he was alone. The tunnel like room drew his eyes to a control panel of some kind at the back of the room, and up a couple of ramps. Guessing that it was something of importance, he marched up to it while collecting his Carbine along the way.

"What were those things," the Chief questioned as he put Cortana's chip into the panel.

"Some sort of advanced, defense A.I. Beyond that. I wasn't able to tell yet. If we run into more- which I suspect we will- I'll see if I can get any more information on them," Cortana answered.

The Chief nodded in understanding before changing the topic.

"Have you had any luck on clearing up that signal?" he asked with a measure of hope.

"Not- wait…"

"This is the UNSC Infinity…"

"No," Cortana mumbled in sudden horror.

"... reading… signature unknown…"

"This is UNSC A.I. Cortana to Infinity. Abort! Abort! I repeat there's a strong gravity well in your path. Break off," Cortana yelled.

"Helm… Portside twenty degrees…"

"A.I. Cortana to Infinity, break off!"

"...Sir, the signal is coming through stronger… UNSC IFF tag… can't find exact location…"

"A.I. Cortana to Infinity. Break off immediately," Cortana shouted one last time into the comm channel before addressing the Chief, "Interference is still too strong."

"If that tower wasn't it, what's causing the interference?" the Chief questioned.

"Well, if I'm reading this correctly, there's two nodes, that are cutting into the signal," Cortana quickly explained as she pulled up a map,

"What's the fastest way to the nearest one?" the Chief quizzed.

"Through here," Cortana responded as another black and blue portal appeared off to his right.

 _I hope you're right,_ the Chief thought as he pulled her chip out.

Then without permitting a second thought, he pressed her chip into his helmet and threw himself into the portal. His exit out of the portal was a lot smoother now that he knew what to expect. He stumbled out of the portal with a leveled carbine. What greeted him was a very different, darker atmosphere. The shadowy landscape was dominated by mat-black cliffs that sported barely noticeable orange highlights. Looking up, he saw a rock slab for his sky.

"Did this put us at the terminal?" the Chief asked as he surveyed the desolate landscape.

"No, but it's as close as I could get," Cortana answered with a sigh before catching sight of the motion tracker, "It wouldn't be a bad hike accept that the edges of your motion tracker are lighting up like a christmas tree. Things are about to get exciting."

As the Chief marched toward his objective, his eyes shifted between his tracker and the landscape as he mentally plotted the best course. The first to reach him were a pack of new four legged "crawlers" as Cortana called them. Meeting the pack head on, he shot the first several in the head. As he was dealing with a couple more, one managed to cut behind him and leapt on his back. The Chief grunted from the sudden added weight, but took the new opponent in stride as he threw it over his shoulder. He held a vice grip on the construct's throat as he swung it around. The Chief let go in time for the beast to go crashing into another crawler that had been creeping up.

Learning from his mistake, the Chief kept the "crawlers" and bigger "knights" at a further distance than Covenant troops as he forced his way through. He noted with curiosity that the new enemies simply dissipated in a glow of orange pixels for some reason. However, he wasn't sure how much he cared as he dealt with wave after wave.

After a firefight that was more tedious than it was truly difficult, the Chief approached a large complex. While much smaller than the one he had been in previously, he could tell that it was most assuredly Forerunner like the other.

As he made his way down the slope leading to the complex, the comm system in his helmet crackled to life with a series of panicked voices. Through the chaos of his own fight, the Chief could not tell the source of the noise.

"Cortana…"

"The Storm battle net just came back online, and it's chaos. There's reports of heavy fighting all across the planet," Cortana explained.

"Anything I need to immediately worry about?" the Chief asked as he ducked behind a rock outcropping.

"From what I can tell, there's a Storm detachment that's been sent down here on the same mission we're on- destroy the nodes, and get deep space comms clear," Cortana explained.

The Chief didn't respond as Knight materialized behind him. Seeing the move in his motion tracker, the Chief swung out of the way of the Knight's sword. As the massive blade carved the area where his neck had been, the Chief rolled to the side. He came up shooting. Each shot hit center mass and the construct went stumbling. It's attempt to counter the move was abruptly ended in an orange glow of light.

Shaking off the unnerving nature of the attack, the Chief continued on. He was really getting tired of enemies magically materializing behind him. As his feet touched flat ground, the Chief watched a couple plasma shells crash into the Forerunner lines. Constructs dissolved in a purple and orange glow as chunks of rock shot out in every direction.

"I think that detachment's here," Cortana warned.

"So I've noticed," the Chief grunted as he forced his way up the ramp into the structure, "Set a waypoint for the target and get us ready to teleport out of here."

As the Chief fought his way to the top of the complex, the Forerunner A.I.'s suddenly had a much different threat to worry about. A company and a half of Storm soldiers supported by wraiths and ghosts were decending on the battle site. The orange and purple light show of small arms fire was periodically interrupted by the blast of exploding plasma shells as the main force slowly advanced on the defenders. Breaking rank, a dozen ghosts glided forward with their own cannons roaring. As they crashed into the line, several of the Knights and crawlers were killed in washes of orange light. However, the favor was quickly returned. Crawlers quickly adapted the technique of hiding behind ledges. Then when a ghost flew by underneath, the canine-like construct would leap down and drag the driver off. From there it was easy kill. Despite the ease of the move, simplicity was overruled by chaos as the advancing force of Storm soldiers closed the gap.

"Whomever is running the show down there need a promotion," Cortana observed, "They've managed to push the Forerunners back without sacrificing their entire force."

"In other words, we're running out of time," the Chief concluded as he rounded a corner.

"Basically," Cortana confirmed of the sound of plasma fire.

As the Chief kicked open the door leading back outside, another burst of radio chatter from the Infinity told him that he didn't have the time to clear the whole floor. Compensating for this, he stuck to the edge of the structure. To one side was the building. To the other was a hundred foot drop into a warzone. He moved forward at a fast clip, shooting anything that moved. The idea seemed to work, as his motion tracker told him of no missed threats, and the purple energy field at the middle of this mess was glowing in front of him.

"Do you have that portal out of here?" the Chief asked.

"Destr-roy the field, and I c-can call it up," she answered in a rampancy affected voice.

With a sudden burst of urgency, the Chief produced a plasma grenade and one of his few remaining fragmentation grenades. He pulled the pin on one, thumbed the switch on the other and tossed both into the field. He pivoted on his back foot and ducked in time to miss the earsplitting blast.

"It's down. O-one morre to go," Cortana declared as the portal appeared in front of the Chief.

Not waiting for an invitation, he leapt into the portal. Seconds later, he dropped out next to the complex for the second node. What got his attention was the lack activity. The other was mess of activity with explosions, shooting, and yelling to fill the air. Now there was nothing but silence. Correction, there was something. A soft crunch under the Chief's boot caught his attention. Looking down, he saw the culprit. Under his foot was a hand belonging to a dead Elite. Now that the adrenaline was dissipating, he registered what he was seeing. There were scores of bodies everywhere. All of the ones that the Chief could see belonged to Storm soldiers. Some were severely burned. Others were missing limbs. Others were twisted at angles that made the Chief's stomach roll. A horrified silence hung between Cortana and the Spartan as they both took in the scene of destruction.

"Hold it. The node's offline. Someone else is here," Cortana warned.

The Chief tensed in response as he looked for a way out of the open. Finding a barrier near the complex, he sprinted forward and slid in behind it. His motion tracker instantly picked up a single figure moving through the tower. He found the only entry of worry, and made a mental note of its location.

Suddenly a bass-like noise surged through the cavern before echoing off of the walls. The culprit was quickly identified as a large black and orange sphere. Curious now, he watched from behind the barrier as a single female human walked out of the tower. The woman was average height with medium length black hair and a simple white dress that gave her a disarming appearance.

As she approached the sphere, an alien with an almost canine-like face came down on a hovering platform.

"Hello Diadact," the woman purred with a surprising loud voice.

"Abeloth… Why have you awoken me?" the Diadact demanded as he pointed an accusing finger at the woman.

"Because, Diadact, I am in need of your services," the woman replied with a smirk.

"No. I may have been sentenced to this prison, but I am not so angry that I would turn you loose on the universe," the Diadact answered sharply.

As if on cue, Knights and Crawlers began appearing around the two by the dozens. The Chief shifted positions in response to a firefight that would never come. Instead, every one of the constructs, even the ones that had obviously seen him, focused on the woman. In response the woman got a look of disappointment as she slowly shook her head.

"After all of the years and all of the different threats, you still think the Forerunners rule the universe. Diadact, you're woefully behind the times," Abeloth observed in a tone often used by a disappointed mother.

"I have no allusions about our place in this realm, but you have not left yet," the Diadact responded.

At that moment, the Chief watched as the woman's hands slowly changed. Fingers and hands turned to tentacles in a process that quietly spread up both arms. Suddenly, without warning, she plunged them into the Diadact's eyes. With a scream of agony, the Forerunner went down. Much to the Chief's surprise, the Knights and Crawlers never moved. Not one of them made a move to help their dying leader.

"Ironic. It is only in your death that you take your real place," Abeloth stated as pain forced the Diadact down on one knee.

As quickly as she started, the woman finished as she removed her tentacle hands. The Diadact thrust outward with his hand that simply cause the woman to take a stutter-step back. The woman smirked as some invisible field closed around his neck.

"It's unfortunate, really. I gave you the opportunity to willingly help me. Instead I had to force you to help me. Now, I will be leaving," the woman explained with a sadness that failed to reach her eyes.

The only response was a single _crack_ as the Diadact went limp. As the Diadact's body hit the floor, the Chief attempted to line up a shot on Abeloth. However, before he could squeeze the trigger, the same invisible field wrapped around his suit and his neck. He felt his windpipe close as he was lifted into the air.

"You really thought that you were going to stop me, and stop the fire. You thought that I would be so easily killed… that I would leave thousands of years of planning to chance," the woman observed with a wicked grin.

"The thought crossed my mind," the Chief admitted between gasps as he clawed at the invisible hand around his throat.

"This, _John_ , is why I will be the 'Queen of the Stars' and not you," Abeloth declared as her smile widened even further.

Within seconds, her eyes receded into pinpricks of lights in their sockets as rows of needle-like teeth became visible in a grin that spanned from ear to ear.

Before the Chief could respond, he was thrown against the far wall. Dazed, the Chief was slow getting up. A beeping in his suit told him that his shields had drained from taking the force of the impact. As he picked himself up, he grabbed the nearest weapon and prepared to go after Abeloth. However, before he could, she disappeared into the teleportation grid.

"Cortana, we need to get word to the Infinity. Is the signal clear?" he asked urgently.

"Step through the portal and you should be clear," Cortana informed him as a portal appeared in front of him.

Without another word, he went sprinting into the portal, unaware of where Cortana was taking him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone! Sorry about the long break between chapters. Life got crazy, and I got busy with other projects. However, I have not forgotten, and I come with another. This one is a bit shorter, and a bit slower (sorry in advance if you were hoping for a chapter of death and destruction), but don't worry. Next chapter will have plenty of excitement. I broke this one off where I did for pacing. Anyways, you all should enjoy it nevertheless.**

 **One last note. At the end, there is a scene with the clones and the Chief. To explain what happened, I figured I should note that those are ARF troopers- the guys who specialize in not getting spotted.**

 **So, now that I have finished with my customary pre-chapter ramble, I give you chapter 4...**

* * *

"We're passing through the gravity well," warned the pilot.

Anakin's response was cut off by the shaking of the gunship. The overhead handholds were all that kept Anakin and the Clones from being tossed around inside the deployment bay. For the next five minutes this went on as the pilot fought with gravity for control of his ship. As the seconds and minutes ticked by, Anakin felt the pilot becoming more nervous. The pressure was obviously becoming stronger.

"Easy Hawk. We're fine," Anakin mumbled.

Despite his quiet volume, the force touch was there. Slowly but surely, Hawk began to relax. The ship's movement became slightly less abrupt, and the panic began to dissipate.

"Sir, incoming transmission from the Resolute," Rex announced.

"Put it up," Anakin ordered with a nod.

"Yes sir."

With that, the dark deployment bay was illuminated by the glowing blue form of Admiral Yularen.

"Captain Rex, Gen- I mean- Knight Skywalker," he began, "We were able to decrypt what is being transmitted from the ship and surrounding area."

"What exactly are we flying into?" Anakin quizzed.

"A three way mess. Upon crashing, the Infinity came under attack by a force that they called the 'Storm'. In turn we just got into the 'Storm' comm systems- for all the effort it was. They've been dealing with harassment from some other hostile force. I advise caution. The crew of the Infinity speaks basic, and at least portions of the Storm seem to speak a Rakatan dialect. Of the three sides, neither the 'Storm' or their unnamed enemies seem to like humans," Admiral Yularen explained before specifically addressing Rex, "A rough translation system should appear on the your men's HUDs."

Rex and Anakin briefly traded looks. Even with Rex's helmet blocking his face, the two quickly reached a silent consensus.

"Well, Admiral. It looks like we're going to become tight friends with this 'UNSC'," Anakin declared.

"Assuming they survive. Based off of comm chatter, that ship's taking on more than her crew can…" Admiral Yularen stopped as an officer whispered in his ear.

The conversation was hushed, but Anakin still felt dread's familiar gut check as the two exchanged words. Finally, after a few moments, Admiral Yularen turned back to the Captain and Jedi.

"It appears that third group has arrived on scene. Details are fragmented at best. Until the panic subsides in everyone's comm channels, we'll be blind as to the details. I advise caution," Yularen hastily warned.

"Understood. Keep us updated. Skywalker out," Anakin concluded.

You could have heard a pin drop in the deployment bay as Yularen vanished from view.

"Well, this just got… interesting," observed one of the Arch Troopers.

"'Dicy' is the word I would choose," Rex added before addressing his former CO, "Well sir, what's the plan? If we put down on the crash sight, there's a very real chance of friendly fire or just being overrun."

"I agree. As much as I don't like it, we'll put down early and find out what's ahead," Anakin decided with an annoyed sigh.

Rex nodded before turning toward the cockpit and declaring, "Hawk. We need a new landing sight. At least a kilometer out from the crash sight."

"Yes sir. Consider this your ninety second warning then," Hawk acknowledged.

"Understood give us the view," he ordered.

The only response was a sharp hiss as both sets of blast doors snapped open.

"Well, I've seen worse," Rex mumbled as he stared at the thick forest.

"When?"

"Felucia," Rex answered with a wry smile.

"I'll save that judgement until after we know the bug and disease rate," Anakin stated as he remembered his own experiences with the planet.

Down below was a mess of trees, vines, and thick undergrowth. For most it would seem pretty. Dots of color added a nice contrast to the varying shades of green, all of which added as a nice contrast to the clear blue sky. However, to Rex it just looked like an endless sea of hidden obstacles and impossible terrain that stretched as far as his eyes could see.

"Well, one way or another, we're going to land in it," Anakin concluded.

* * *

"This is Sierra 117 to Infinity. I'm in route to assist. Over," the Chief called into his helmet comm.

The response was nothing but static as the Chief picked his way through the undergrowth.

"Sierra 117 to Infinity. Come in. Over," the Chief tried again.

By this point he felt dread turning into annoyance.

"Cortana, how hard was the impact?" he quizzed.

"Judging by- 'Reach was our last stronghold… our last-' Damn it!... Judging by the last impact, someone should be able to pick up the mic," Cortana fought to answer.

The Chief raised an eyebrow as an idea worked its way into his brain.

"Cortana. Did we really un-jam the frequency?" the Chief quizzed.

"Yes. That was what was causing the interference. However- Wait… Chief, I think we have bigger problems," Cortana declared with an ever paling voice, "The Storm battle net just went dark like it did in the tower."

"How does an entire battle net go silent?" the Chief wondered as he ducked under one half of a lightning-split tree, "More specifically, why is it always the frequencies that are convenient to us. First it's in the tower. That one lasted long enough to cause confusion, end a potentially fatal firefight, and allow us to miss most of an equally deadly battle... The second one happens now, as a force is attacking the Infinity. Sudden loss of communications could break down the operation and work in the Infinity's favor… Cortana, is there a way to disguise where a jamming system is working from?"

The next few seconds were silent as Cortana thought over the question.

"Theoretically, yes. However, it would have to be under just the right conditions and no one has successfully done it. Speak-Speaking from previous kn- knowledge, ONI attempted this but was unsuccessful," Cortana finally answered before guessing, "You think someone is playing us."

"I think that meeting with Abeloth is causing me to reconsider how much of this planet has to do with this planet is Forerunner," the Chief replied firmly.

"Oh, everything on this planet has had to do with the Forerunners in some way. The architecture… the constructs… everything," Cortana stated.

"What about our mystery woman? Nothing about her looked or acted Forerunner. I'm starting to think she is the one that runs this place," the Chief countered.

"True. She was quite human, and seemed at odds with them. but-" there was a flash of static some garbled noise and then Cortana again- "But that bitch was condescending enough!" Cortana suddenly yelled.

The sudden aggressiveness in her words caused the Chief to stop short.

"Cortana, are you going to be ok, or-"

"I'm fine," Cortana immediately reassured him, "It's just a little harder to function."

There was a tremor in her voice that made the Chief question that statement. Her voice contained a measure of fear that the Chief had almost never heard from her. He had heard joy, excitement, sadness, and worry. However, this was the first time he had heard genuine fear from her.

"Cortana," he began with a relative gentleness, "It's not that, it's the fact that you-"

The Chief was again interrupted. However, instead of Cortana, it was a far out sound. The noise was quiet, mostly carried by the wind, but the warbling noise was definitely not in his head.

"Cortana do you hear that?" he quizzed, all thoughts of the last conversation shoved to the side.

"Yes. It just appeared on the sensors. Six smaller craft closing fast. That's odd…" Cortana confirmed before trailing off.

"What?"

"The craft. They made it through. They're following the Infinity's exact flight path. Yet they obviously did it without power loss unlike the Infinity," Cortana explained.

The frown under the Chief's helmet quickly hardened as he processed the information.

"Could they have gotten lucky?" he inquired.

"I doubt it. There's luck and then there's the kind of luck needed to withstand an EM field in a ship not much bigger than a Pelican. Put simply, that luck doesn't exist," Cortana answered.

"Someone's playing us, be it the woman or someone else. There's too many conveniences to be otherwise," the Chief decided.

The next few minutes carried on in relative silence as he continued fighting through the forest. Trees, rocks, and small streams made for an endless obstacle course. However, foot by foot and kilometer by kilometer he pushed through. Over the crunching of plants and splashing of water, he could hear the warbling getting closer, until they suddenly roared over. Looking through a clearing in the trees, he could see all six of the ships streak by. Under three of them, he thought he could see some sort of object hanging down.

"Those aren't UNSC," the Chief noted apprehensively.

"No, but they sure aren't Storm either," Cortana added.

"Forerunner?"

"No. I don't believe so. The electromagnetic signature is different. Its odd, the suit's sensors keep trying to identify them as Pelicans. However, the power plant emissions don't match anything produced by UNSC craft," Cortana answered.

"They definitely weren't UNSC or Storm," the Chief countered as he continued on his way.

"No, but I get the feeling that we'll find out who they are soon enough," Cortana said.

"What do you mean?" the Chief quizzed as he climbed over a set of massive boulders.

"They've altered their course slightly. If th-they stay on their current trajectory, the ships will set down about a kilometer this side of the Infinity," she explained.

The Chief simply nodded as he continued on his way. He wasn't exactly eager to meet someone new. Every time he had done that, he seemed to end up with more issues than what he started with. It happened with the Forerunners. It happened with the Flood. Finally, it had happened with that… that freak. The Chief winced as he recalled her transformation from rather attractive human to hideous, monster.

A loud blast snapped him out of his thoughts. Birds… or at least what the Chief wrote off as birds… scattered out from the trees. Hidden behind their veil of vegetation, animals went scattering as another blast tore through the forest. In the day's silence, the round almost sounded like an atmospheric MAC shot, though the Chief knew it was much too quiet to be so.

"Cortana?"

"I heard it. Dead ahead. Up the second-"

Cortana was interrupted by series of cracks and muffled follow-up explosion. Somewhere in there, the Chief thought he could hear some kind of small arms fire.

"Second ridge, right where those ships were going," Cortana declared.

The Chief broke into a run as he fought through the undergrowth toward the commotion. However, as he drew closer, he noticed that the explosions and other sounds had come to an end. By this point, the ground turned sharply upward, telling him that the landing site was relatively close. In the expectant silence, the Chief heard another noise. There was a muffled roar as one of the ships flew by over head. A couple minutes later, the Chief encountered another overhead.

"Their circling around, almost like they're looking for something," Cortana noted, "I have three others moving in a tighter south-to-north arc.

The Chief looked up with a raised carbine as another briefly stopped above him, before moving on.

"Not something… someone," the Chief amended, "There was some sort of ball turret on the side. It was moving around like it was scanning for targets."

"Th-That wo'd make sense," Cortana agreed.

He heard a muffled curse over his helmet mic as Cortana fought her rampancy.

The idea of meeting another faction- friend or foe- made his body tense. However, instead of worry, it was out of anticipation and annoyance. Even if they weren't hunting him, surprises and complications were getting really old really fast. Despite this, he continued up the slope.

"Heads up, you have multiple life forms coming down the hill. Make it one squad's worth," Cortana warned.

The Chief nodded as his eyes shot straight up to his motion tracker. A second after her warning, red blips began to appear on the outer edges of his tracker. He counted one… two… four… six… Six figures were slowly making their way toward him.

"They're spread out far enough," Cortana commented.

"Well trained," the Chief guessed.

Without a motion tracker, that kind of spacing would make it next to impossible to know how many there were.

"Or battling the terrain," Cortana offered half-heartedly.

"Until I know otherwise, I'm going with option one," the Chief declared as he continued forward.

As he made his way up, he watched the blips come down toward him. Slowly, they began to break away. He almost didn't catch it at first, but they were splitting into two distinct groups of three. One group was going on either side of him. As they drew closer, the Chief saw a brief flash of grey. However, it was gone in the brush before he could fire. His trigger finger was starting to metaphorically twitch. However, he kept the impulse at bay. He wasn't going to waste precious ammunition on blind shots. Slowly the noose began to tighten. However, the Chief continued to walk while slowly circling with a raised carbine.

"Definitely good," Cortana conceded.

They were about ten to fifteen yard off every side, and the Chief couldn't see one of them. The Chief was about to go flush them out, when a twig snapped behind him. The Chief spun around. His Carbine leveled three inches from someone's head. The humanoid's hands (one of which contained a weapon) instantly raised in a no combative motion. Despite obvious attempts to keep his dignity, the Chief noticed a nervous twitch in the being's hands.

"Drop it!" yelled a voice behind him.

The Chief reflexively spun around. This time, he was face to face with the lethal end of a weapon. The new comer didn't move his weapon, even with the Chief's own weapon remained leveled at his chest. This person seemed to lack any of the nerves that the other person had displayed, or at least was better at hiding them. Behind him, the Chief heard a metallic thump as the other humanoid re-leveled his own weapon.

"Hold your fire," barked the first person.

Suddenly, there was a series of crashing sounds as the other six humanoids came tearing out of the forest. Each one had a weapon leveled at the Chief. He reigned in his reflexes as he assessed the situation. One of him, and six enemies of unknown power and capability. However, there was an obvious discipline and skill to group that the Chief noted.

"We don't want to hurt you. We just want to talk," the man stated.

Despite the being's attempt at a disarming tone, the Chief noted an obvious amount of tension.

"Prove it," the Chief demanded.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone! I'm back relatively quickly this time. Yes, I know this first contact is taking forever. However, given the situation, I was forced to divide it up into a few chapters (the last chapter, this chapter, and then the next one). That said, there is some action interlaced in between the talking, so it shouldn't be too tedious. On that note, I would love to know what you guys are thinking. Is this story interesting?... Do you still like it?... Is there anything that needs fixed?... (Insert idea here)**

 **Anyway, without further ado, I give you chapter 5...**

* * *

"Prove it," the being demanded.

Given the situation, Sergeant Dagger found that hard to do. He had five other men with weapons raised, just looking for an excuse to fire. On top of that, he had a two meter tall, faceless being holding a weapon to the chest of one said person. The next couple seconds were excruciating as the clone racked his brain for a solution. Finally, unable to do anything else, he lowered his blaster and made a downward motion with his right hand. The rest of his squad was reluctant but followed suit. One by one, weapons were lowered and the tension came down a couple notches.

"Who are you?" Sergeant Dagger demanded.

Long past being startled by the lack of language barrier, the Spartan answered, "Master Chief, John 117 with the UNSC. Who are you?"

"Sergeant Dagger, with the Galactic Republic," the Clone replied with a similar crispness.

"Who and where's the Galactic Republic?" Cortana asked on the private comm channel. The Chief echoed a more tactful version of the question to Sergeant Dagger.

"It's probably best for my Commander to explain that," Answered Sergeant Dagger uneasily, "If you are willing I can take you to him."

Given the man's affiliation with the UNSC, Sergeant Dagger saw him as their way in with the Infinity's crew.

"Alright. Just don't do anything hasty," the Chief agreed.

He wasn't about to disrupt a relatively peaceful first contact. As such, he willingly fell in with the squad as Sergeant Dagger lead the way up the hill. Along the way, Sergeant Dagger radioed in their approach.

While they walked, the Chief silently eyed their armor. It was a various shades of grey with a black body glove appearing at various joints. The helmet almost looked like an ODST helmet if someone attached a visor and an oxygen intake (at least that was what the Chief guessed it was) to the mask. The weapon in the Sergeant's hand almost looked like a scaled down version of the DMR, complete with shoulder stock and what he guessed holographic sight. The end result was a uniform that added a surprising level of intimidation to their appearance.

As they arrived, the Chief saw what had caused the fighting he had heard. A quick look left and right provided the burning remains of a couple ghosts. A more deliberate look among the trees and undergrowth revealed the bodies of various Storm soldiers. From what the Chief could tell, they all contained burn marks of some kind.

"It's not plasma, but it's effective," Cortana observed.

The Chief simply nodded as his eyes locked forward. In front of him was a defensive circle. That much was readily obvious. Three large walkers stood along the perimeter. Filling in the gap were more soldiers and smaller two legged walkers that moved like oversized chickens. Some of the soldiers approaching the circle looked like Sergeant Dagger and his men, while the ones inside had more organically shaped helmets and various blue markings. The Chief tensed as Pelican sized gunships dropped into position. Their appearance and added firepower helped fill any gaps in the line. Regardless of how necessary they were, the gunships immediately put the Chief on edge.

As they walked through the perimeter line, the Chief could feel every set of eyes turning toward him. He didn't have to work hard to imagine the varying levels of suspicion and curiosity hidden under their helmets. However, he quickly ignored them in favor of the two people he was being lead too.

"Captain," Sergeant Dagger lead off as he drew to attention.

The Captain turned to his subordinate.

"Thank you Dagger. Dismissed," the Captain acknowledged.

The Chief barely heard the exchange. He was too busy staring at the man behind the Captain. With four limbs, pitch black hair, and light- though heavily tanned and scarred- skin, there was no doubt that he was human. However, that couldn't be right. There was no other place where humanity existed. Earth was humanity's home. That said, he highly doubted that this civilization developed their technology from the UNSC, and did it within the seven years he had been gone. The Chief managed to stay silent about the issue, but Cortana was unable to contain herself.

"You're human!" she exclaimed through the helmet's external speakers.

The man frowned, but simply nodded.

"Yes. It sounds like you are the same," the man answered with a frown.

"I would hope so," the Chief confirmed.

This caused both the Captain and the black robed human to stiffen. The Chief noted that each person's hands were slowly drifting for their weapons. However, it was the robed person who spoke.

"Alright, who's who?" he demanded.

The volume was quiet but the look in the man's eyes could have killed. The Chief let out a muted sigh as he chose his words.

"I'm the one that Dagger referred to as 'John', though simply calling me 'Chief' is preferred. The one you just heard is Cortana, an artificial intelligence construct. She helps with tactical analyze and aids in bridging any technological gaps that hinder my ability to complete a mission," The Chief explained.

"Hello," Cortana added at the end.

Captain slowly nodded as he turned to the robed human. That human simply shrugged as he gave a satisfied nod of his own. However, something in his eyes told the Chief that he wasn't totally convinced with the story.

"Sounds like it-"

"She" Cortana cut in indignantly.

'She's basically an R-2 unit built into the suit," the Captain summarized.

The robed man nodded his head thoughtfully.

"Doesn't affect us too much," he answered with the same kind of shrug.

"There are several questions I would like to ask. However, they are going to have to wait. In the meantime, there are only two questions that matter… 'Where am I?' and 'What are your intentions?'" the Chief cut in.

There was a collective sigh as the two men traded looks. Finally, the robed man answered.

"We don't know where we are. Some sort of spacial anomaly pulled us in and dropped us outside the planet. As for why we are here on the surface, we were tracking a signal and conducting a search and rescue op. We saw a ship known as the 'Infinity'- one of yours I'm guessing- and were going to check for survivors," the man explained as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"The Infinity's knee deep in a battle right now. We also saw them get pulled in. We were going to help," Cortana explained.

"Recon teams have told us as much. As far as we know, it's turned into a three way mess. We were getting ready to start moving. I assume you will want to tag along," the man offered.

"Alright," the Chief agreed.

The decision wasn't hard to reach. The newcomers had less chance of getting shot at if the Chief could vouch for them. On top of that, if they did prove to be hostile, he would be in a better position to end the threat.

The robed man nodded as he introduced both himself and the Captain- Anakin and Rex respectively. From there, he quickly explained the plan as the rest of the Company fell into position. The Infinity had crashed into a large valley just down the back slope. As such, the Storm and Prometheans had fought their way down into a 'hole'. The larger walkers would stay along the upper rim and act as mobile gun emplacements while the rest of the soldiers surged down the hill. As the attack started, the Gunships would leave the landing site and act as close air support.

Satisfied with the plan, the Chief took his position among the soldiers as they started off. The trek down was made easier by the lead walkers. Their large feet easily crushed the hollow logs and smaller boulders. All one had to do is fall into the right or left tracks and they had an easy hike down. As they made their way, Cortana sent out an all frequencies broadcast that they were arriving on station with help from a first contact source. She was careful to put it on a loop so that it would be heard if comms cleared at all.

* * *

The being looked like the Diadact. The being sounded like the Diadact. The sensors on the Prometheans told them that it was the Diadact. However, the Diadact was dead. What was left was his looks, an empty shell that Abeloth was all too happy to inhabit. From her perch at the back of the Promethean lines, she could see and feel the chaos. Their sudden introduction into the battle had startled the Storm forces attacking the Infinity. Unfortunately, the results from jamming their comms weren't as dramatic as Abeloth had hoped, but she had worked with it. The lack of communication still affected them, and the advance had ground to a stop inside the Infinity's lower decks.

Now, she could sense the final piece of the puzzle falling into piece. They were here. Things would fall into place. Decisions would be made, and she would be free. The thought of true freedom stirred something ugly inside her. The monster raged against its cage. Teeth crashed against steel bars within her as the anticipation grew. It was there. The monster they had made was there, and it was demanding to be set free.

Suddenly she bristled. There was one kink in her plans. She could feel him approaching. The man in black robes was there and he was ready. Abeloth knew he was a danger. She knew that there was no controlling this man. There would be no bending his will to her own. There was only one answer for him. However, it would have to wait. Now was not the time.

"Skywalker," she cursed, "One day… One day your end would come."

* * *

The first sign of the Republic's arrival was a series of earsplitting explosions. Trees splintered, Aliens went flying, and vehicles were consumed in fiery blazes. Before the Storm or Prometheans could react, a tidal wave of soldiers and smaller vehicles came crashing into their lines. There was no time to react. There was no time to assess the situation. There was no time to do anything. Blue streaks of light cut down anything in their path. Sometimes it was a one shot kill other times it took several shots. However, the end result was the same regardless.

As the attack began to slow, another factor was suddenly introduced. Explosions, bigger than any seen so far, ripped into the hastily erected defenses. Wraiths were sent skipping through the undergrowth as Gunships rained down a storm of rockets and explosions. Green lasers cut down anything in their path as the ships circled overhead. Trees fell by the dozens and boulders the size of warthogs were sent flying as though they were made out of wadded up paper.

At the center of this chaos were two totally different but equally deadly men. The first was Anakin. Three years of war and countless missions had purged most pre battle worry from his mind. He did not fear his own death. He did not fear the success of the mission. He had only one focus, and that was reaching the Infinity. His lightsaber caught plasma round after plasma round as he sprinted forward. He quickly ate up the distance between himself and the nearest Elites. Striking out with his blade, he sent one head rolling. Two others had their weapons sliced in half before they were also cut down. Seeing his weapon of choice, two Elites rushed at him with an activated energy swords. Before they could cover the distance, Anakin whipped around with an outstretched arm. His blade clotheslined the first Elite while a Force blast sent the other Elite flying back. The first one dropped to the ground as his head went rolling off. Bark shattered and wood splintered as the second Elite crashed into a tree. Anakin didn't wait to see if that Elite was dead. Even if the impact hadn't killed him, the force of the hit had obviously incapacitated him.

Not far away, the Chief was having his own field day. He plunged his combat knife into the chest of a Jackal as he unloaded his Magnum into the head of a trailing Elite. Then, in one fluid motion, he ripped the blade out and sent it flying. The knife buried itself into a grunt as he changed magazines in his pistol. He went back into firing as he sprinted for his knife. Two bullets sent a sniper tumbling from his perch while four others dealt with two suicidal Grunts. Behind him, a clone had managed to drop the shields on an Elite. Without missing a beat, the Chief shifted aim and finished the beast. By this point a beeping in his suit told him to find cover.

The Chief went sliding behind a massive boulder as several plasma rounds streaked overhead. As his shields recharged, he produced a thermal detonator he had lifted off a dead clone. After what felt like forever, the whine emanating from his recharging shield ended in a reassuring chirp. He thumbed what he assumed to be the "pin" and tossed the grenade over the rock and toward those who had been shooting at him. Even from a few yards away, the Chief felt the heat from the explosion wash over him. Despite losing part of his shields again, the Chief knew he had gotten the better end of the deal. About a dozen Jackals, Elites, and grunts were suddenly engulfed in a blinding white and yellow flash. Those that weren't incinerated were ripped apart by the shockwave. As he advanced, the Chief made quick work of the few survivors.

Back on the Infinity, security forces felt near instant relief. The defending Marines and Spartans soon found their own footing as they pushed back. Room by room and corridor by corridor, they began to retake their ship. Positions that had been secured and reinforced by the Storm were soon being overrun by numerically smaller forces. Units were soon evacuating about as fast as the UNSC could move. In fact, some combat teams were moving so fast that there was a risk of front line forces being cut out of the fighting by other teams moving faster and at intersecting angles.

After a few hours of intensive fighting, the worn and ragged Storm survivors managed to remove themselves from the fighting. Equally beaten Prometheans were also forced to remove themselves from the fighting or risk being annihilated.

Being on the other side of the valley, they had not seen any fighting with the interjecting clones. However, they had taken a severe beating from Storm soldiers desperate to escape. No amount of teleporting and/or counterattacking could even the match between them and the numerically superior force. Any backbone that the Storm had failed to produce, suddenly appeared as they fought their way out toward the safety of the surrounding mountains. As usual, the Storm did not like such retreats. However, if they were to hold out long enough for a relief fleet to arrive, they needed to regroup. Back in the valley, the dust began to settle as soldiers regrouped and began counting losses.

Commander Palmer shielded her eyes as she stepped out into the sunlit frigate bay. Of course this bay wasn't suppose to be sunlit. However, the force of the impact had stripped away the metal side like an old fashioned can opener. She ignored this detail she stepped out onto the battlefield. The trail of dead bodies and broken equipment trailed off into the surrounding forest as far as she could see. What was once dense forest, had been blown open and hacked apart until it was a wide clearing of smoke and debris. Occasionally, she could hear isolated burst of small arms fire. While definitely not UNSC, they weren't Forerunner, Storm, or directed at her and her people. For this reason, she mentally noted their location and then ignored them.

Standing over the bodies were the people that interested her. The green armored Spartan was standing around a holoprojector with two other humans. One wore black robes while the other was in white armor with blue markings. Judging by the similar markings on other soldiers, she assumed them to be some kind of unit designation. As she drew closer, she could hear the back end of a conversation.

"...There's no way to take her down one on one. She was able to throw me around like a rag doll. On top of that, there was well over a company's worth of dead Storm soldiers, and you've seen how they fight," the Chief was explaining.

The Commander came to a stop as she listened. The man in black robes was silently nodding his head.

"That doesn't surprise me. I haven't felt that much power in… well in at least three years," Anakin answered with a thoughtful frown.

"I'm starting to think this is a planet best raised from orbit," the man in the holoprojector declared.

"You and I both. However, there's too many unanswered questions. If we do get a chance to report back to Coruscant, they'll want to explore it. Three previously undiscovered civilizations and a totally artificial planet guarantee that," the black robed man objected with a sigh.

"That and I think the crew of the Infinity might object to us slagging the ground that they are currently stuck occupying," the white armored human added.

"Yes we would definately object," Commander Palmer cut in firmly.

With the exception of the black robed man, everyone seemed to be startled by her arrival. Both the Spartan and man in white armor whipped around to face her as the transmitter was clicked off. By contrast, the third person simply gave her a knowing look as he tilted his head up from the transmitter. Do to the way the man had originally been focused on the conversation, Commander Palmer found it unsettling. However, she quickly pushed the feeling aside.

"And you are?" quizzed the white armored person.

The annoyance in his voice was there, but there was an undertone to his voice- one she was all too familiar with.

"Commander Palmer, head of ground ops for the Infinity. Since we're standing outside _my_ ship, I might ask the same thing," she answered firmly.

The man quickly dulled his authoritative edge.

"Captain Rex… Head of ground forces on the Resolute- the ship sitting outside the gravity well," Rex answered crisply, "This is Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. While not technically part of the command chain… he's… he's…"

Seeing Rex's struggle to explain, Anakin added in, "I'm the unofficial second in command."

"That's it," Rex quickly agreed, "He used to be the CO. However, that's a long complicated story for later."

Commander Palmer noticed that Rex's statement seemed to age him by several years. Curiously though, none of the anger or frustration seemed to pointed at Anakin. It seemed to be directed outward as though pointed to someone else… someone not here.

"Well, if you want to step inside, the Captain and I can both hear that story," Commander Palmer suggested.

Rex and Anakin both looked at each other. Even if most of that story was classified, the hint was clear. The Commander wanted to know more about them and their people.

"Alright, lead the way," Rex finally agreed.

"Good," she acknowledged before turning to the Chief, "Why don't you follow along? It sounds like you have quite the report as well."

The Chief simply nodded and fell in as Commander Palmer lead them back into the Infinity.


	6. Chapter 6

**(UNSC Infinity)**

Captain Del Rio pinched the bridge of his nose as he listened to Roland- the shipboard A.I.- issue a damage report. It was long and complicated with damage from the crash being made worse by open warfare in the lower decks.

"Realistically, how soon can we get off the ground?" the Captain finally asked.

"Assuming that these newcomers don't complicate things?" Roland quizzed.

Captain Del Rio's response was lead by a loud sigh that couldn't tell if it wanted to be annoyed or depressed, and a glare that could have killed.

"Which ones?"

"Yes."

"Take a guess," Del Rio bit out through a clenched jaw.

"Understood... Assuming nothing structural is damaged, we can be up as soon as ground teams return and the lower frigate bays are sealed," the aviator dressed A.I. answered.

"What's the time for all of that?" the Captain pressed.

"There's a few spots I need manually checked do to destroyed sensor stations. With those, we can be in the air in two hours, but…" Roland trailed off his explanation as he turned his eyes to the ceiling.

"But?" the Captain demanded.

"But, getting out is going to be harder. I just double checked the sensor readout from our crash landing," Roland picked back up, "We can get in the air, but unless we take out the gravity well, we aren't going anywhere."

"Damn it," he cursed under his breath as he pounded his fist on the holotable, "Re-assign a recon team. I want to know what we're up against."

"You're moving on the well?" Roland clarified with raised eyebrows.

"We're sitting down here with overloaded shields, our frigate bays are oversized hull breaches, half my troop complement is dead or injured, and a Storm Fleet is going to come looking for their missing friends eventually. I don't see much of an option," Del Rio justified, "We have to get off the ground."

"Understood-"

Roland cut himself off as the rear blast doors snapped open. In walked Commander Palmer escorting another green armored Spartan, a man in white and blue armor, and another in Black robes. Captain Del Rio allowed a weak smile as he nodded to the Commander and addressed the Chief.

"Master Chief, you're a sight for sore eyes. Welcome aboard," he began.

"Thank you, sir," the Chief responded crisply.

Del Rio nodded and turned to the other two.

"Gentlemen, welcome to the Infinity. I'm Captain Del Rio. I see you've already met Commander Palmer and the Chief," he continued.

Before either person could answer, another officer in a similar grey uniform approached the Captain.

"Sir, a recon team just went airborne. The Republic's taking position along the perimeter and Roland's doing a structural check," the man whispered.

"Good," he acknowledged, "Stick around would you?"

"Yes sir."

Satisfied, Captain Del Rio shifted his attention back toward the group.

"Sorry about that, things are a bit hectic at the moment," he explained before gesturing to the other officer, "This is Commander Lasky, second in command of the Infinity."

"Thank you, Captain…" Anakin began as he stepped forward.

The next few several minutes were spent finishing introductions and trading basic information about each other. Given the sensitive nature of each war's conclusion, both Anakin and Captain Del Rio found themselves side stepping most of the questions asked. However, what was revealed through the said and unsaid had Captain Del Rio shaking his head.

"So, basically the Republic got a clone army that it never asked for?" Commander Lasky finally clarified.

Anakin and Rex didn't respond at first as they traded hesitant glances. Finally, Rex spoke up.

"Yes."

Del Rio, who had clearly been biting his tongue up to this point, finally spoke up.

"So, you get this marching army of 'yes men' even though you didn't ask for them, just in time for this splinter group to get their own marching army of 'yes men'; yet you go with it no questions asked?" the Captain asked as he looked down the end of his nose at the clone.

Rex's cheeks flushed red. He opened his mouth to ram the Captain's words back down his throat, but instead Anakin's measured voice came out.

"As someone who was in the middle of that mess, I can tell you that there was no time. Within twenty-four hours of learning about this army" -Anakin gestured to Rex- "The war had begun." Anakin quickly answered as he sought to defuse the fight he saw brewing.

It was too late. Rex locked eyes with the UNSC Captain and gave a bitter, humorless snicker.

"Please, tell me all the questions that you bothered to ask before turning to 'yes men'," Rex shot back as he pointed back to the Chief.

Rage replaced suspicion in both Del Rio's and Lasky's eyes. However, it was Del Rio that stepped up.

"How dare you!" he roared.

The officer's entire body tensed as though the Captain was going to vault the holotable that separated them. Within the span of two seconds several things happened. Seeing Del Rio body language shift was like throwing a switch in Rex's brain. He bent his knees, expecting to either catch the man as he cleared the table or avoid small arms fire from that same person. In the same instant his right hand dropped to what was now an empty holster. The move was turned awkward stumble forward as Anakin's force augmented arm caught him mid stride.

As Anakin pulled his partner back, he used the Force through his other arm snag his lightsaber from Commander Palmers utility belt. Every weapon came up as Anakin's blade leaped into his hand and snapped to life. Both Spartans moved to put themselves between Anakin and the Captain while the Marines in the room circled around to flank pair. Anakin ignored all of them as he turned to Rex, who had still not removed his eyes from the Captain.

"Walk it off," Anakin quietly ordered.

Rex immediately opened his mouth to protest.

"I said, 'walk it off'," Anakin commanded again as he laced in a force suggestion.

It was subtle but the point was made. The proverbial switch was thrown back and Rex let out an annoyed sigh. After a couple seconds, he finally spun on his back heel and marched for the door. Commander Palmer's unseen and uncared about hand signal ensured that he got nothing more than dirty looks as he cut between two of the guards.

Across the room, Commander Palmer watched down through the crosshairs of her magnum as Rex marched out the blast doors. As the doors snapped shut again, Anakin's blue blade disappeared with a sharp hiss.

"Where's he going?" she demanded.

"Rejoining his men. That's all," Anakin answered flatly as he replaced his blade.

Commander Palmer nodded as Anakin's arms stretched out in a gesture of peace. She had figured as much.

"Don't do anything hasty."

Anakin nodded as he turned back toward the holotable.

"Don't worry, I'm not in the mood to get perforated," he reassured.

Commander Palmer motioned for the Marines to stand down as she countered, "That party trick said different."

"That was making sure the Captain didn't get shot," Anakin explained as his eyes darted from person to person.

"That's not my style," the Captain answered with a thin smile before deadpanning, "I prefer to personally solve things."

Anakin took the opening to bring things back onto a peaceful track. Over the next hour, the tension between people slowly dissipated as Cortana gave everyone bigger things to worry about. Upon being plugged into the system, Cortana went about explaining how they ended up on Requiem and what they had found out about the Diadact and his killer.

* * *

Twenty miles to the southeast of the Infinity, a duel rotored Hornet soared just above tree height. Inside, Seven Marines made last minute adjustments to their gear. Each one had light body armor comprised of varying brown shades. These ranged from light tans to near black hues that washed into a hand smeared mask of camouflage paint on their faces, and similar colored weapons.

"This is Hornet 1 to Infinity Control, requesting final clearance on recon op. Over," radioed in the Pilot.

A few seconds later Roland's voice crackled over the flight helmet, "This is Infinity Control… Recon op is a go. I repeat: recon is a go."

"Roger," acknowledged the pilot before addressing the others, "Echo team, the final green has been given. Touch down in ten."

As if to highlight his point, the engines dropped in volume and pitch as the Pilot eased himself into a pre-selected landing zone. The spot was a narrow valley with steep walls and an easy- albeit narrow- path out. All in all, the place would muffle his own noise while minimally affecting the scout team. He circled once as he visually and electronically scanned for a trap. After one loop he was satisfied and put the craft down.

The muffled chatter from the deployment bay picked up in volume as the squad filed out of the craft. The Pilot watched the group disappear over the ridge as he powered down his craft. This was going to be a while, and the quieter the better.

* * *

"They're what?" Rex balked.

"Captain's made up his mind. They're going to force open the gravity well," Anakin stated as he looked back at the grounded Infinity.

"Has he lost his mind? If this monster is half as bad as you and the Chief think, she needs to be dealt with first," Rex argued as he shuffled his feet.

Anakin nodded as he stared back at the warship. Something didn't feel right and hadn't felt right for a while. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled every time the gravity well was mentioned. The entire op wasn't right. It felt as though every action was expected; as though each person's choices were not really their own, but simply a response to pre-arranged circumstances. He knew the feeling- the sensation of being a puppet in someone's sick sideshow. The feeling had died with the end of the Clone Wars. Yet now it was back again, and Anakin intended to find the witch responsible.

"Sir?"

The question was loud and packed with meaning. About the third time it was asked, Anakin realized that he had left his Captain hanging.

"Get the men together. We need to move, now," Anakin ordered.

"Yes sir," Rex answered out of reflex.

Even if he wasn't in the military, Anakin was now officially leading this mission.

Inside the Infinity's bridge, news of Torrent Company's departure was accepted with the operational equivalent of an eye roll and half-hearted nod. Anakin had made it clear that they would be taking that course of action before he left. On top of that, the Captain Del Rio was dealing with a Spartan and his broken A.I.

"Captain, containment may be our only option," the Chief protested.

"Abeloth Is going to need a ship before she can get out," Del Rio countered as he leaned forward.

Suddenly, Cortana appeared six inches from his face. However, instead of her usual blue coloring, Cortana was a reddish purple that betrayed both her frustration and broken state.

"There's a crash site littered with flight worthy Phantoms five thousand meters up and east," Cortana declared.

"Even if we don't do it, that well's going down. Those Storm survivors are going to want off eventually, and when push comes to shove, religion won't mean shit," Captain Del Rio snapped as he pointed out the bridge window.

The Chief didn't say anything as Cortana went to open her mouth. Sound failed to come out as the Captain tacked on.

"Answer this, what happens when she get's out and Fleetcomm hears nothing?" he demanded.

"And if they find out that we cut her loose?" the Chief cut in.

"I'll take the risk," Del Rio resolved.

Cortana's holographic form flickered between purple and blue as he stared down Del Rio. The silent rage came and went with the twitches, but the disgust remained in defiance of her silent stand off between man and machine was broken when Commander Lasky approached the Captain.

"Sir, the Op Center just heard back from Echo Team. Commander Palmer's saying we can do it with a company and a Mammoth if we move now," the Commander quietly reported.

"And if we wait?"

"The door potentially shuts and we can count ourselves lucky if we get within twelve kilometers," he answered apprehensively.

Captain Del Rio was silent as he considered his options. The Chief's arguments weren't without merit. Abeloth was one hell of a monster. Cutting her loose could damn the entire Galaxy. However, he still stood by his own set of arguments. She was going to be free one way or another. At least if the Infinity broke out, FleetComm would have a chance to be prepared for her.

After a few seconds, Captain Del Rio made his call, "Commander Palmer has one company and mammoth. Destroy that generator."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone! Long time, no see. Well, it's taken forever but I finally have a new chapter. I would love to know what you all think. But most importantly, sit back and enjoy. :)**

 **So, without further ado, I give you chapter 7.**

* * *

"I don't know about you, but I like a little more intel with my briefing," Cortana complained as Del Rio's holographic form disappeared from the deployment bay of the pelican.

"It'll do," the Chief deadpanned as he stared out the open bay door.

He felt his stomach drop as the Pelicans dropped into the canyon. Outside, the forested landscape that contained the Infinity's crash site had given way narrow canyons etched into a desert landscape.

 _BOOM!_

The Chief was thrown against his harness as a plasma shell sent the adjacent craft spiraling out of the sky. The pelican jerked up as another one exploded directly behind them. The Chief was lucky to have noise dampeners. The rest of the Marines didn't. As a result, just about everyone under the rank of Sergeant jumped out of their skin.

"Ramp's going up," yelled the crew chief as he punched the ramp control button.

As the explosions took a muffled quality, the Chief watched Gypsy Company's Captain and one of the Sergeants trade a smirk as the Lieutenant paled. It was clear that the man was fresh out of officer school.

Two minutes later, the Crew Chief approached the Captain. The two traded hushed words. It was clear that neither man was happy as they turned toward the group. However, it was the lower ranking Crew Chief that spoke.

"We drop in ninety seconds. Get your gear and be ready. Once that ramp drops, you have exactly ten seconds to get the hell off my ship," the man bellowed.

Before the man was done talking, the Marines were moving. Packs rustled around and last minute weapons checks were conducted as the group stood up. The Pelican, as if on cue, began to slow.

"Ten seconds!"

This time it was the Captain who called out the time. The ramp lowered and the men poured out into chaos. The Spartan didn't need his motion tracker to tell him where the Storm were at. The hail of plasma fire streaking past him, told him that just fine. He had just raised his weapon when a concussive blast ripped through the canyon. Boulders, bodies, and various assorted debris went shooting out into the surrounding area as the MAC round bore into the Covenant defenses.

"All teams, push up," the Captain ordered as the dust began to clear.

* * *

Abeloth watched as the ships touched down in the canyon. Soldiers raced out of them as their Storm counterparts slowly picked them off. One by one, lives disappeared from the force. Two were blown apart by a grenade. One took a plasma round to the chest, while the responding medic was taken out by a sniper in the rocks. Suddenly, an explosion changed everything. Abeloth felt over three dozen lives get violently ripped from the force as the bunker was wiped from existence. She didn't bother to watch as the Marines charged ahead. She knew what would happen next. Instead she focused on the cause of the fiery blast.

The culprit was the twenty-seven meter high, wheeled Mammoth in the center of the UNSC formation. As its six wheels carried it through the battle, it soon became clear that it was both well armed and nearly impervious to normal ground fire.

For the next hour, Abeloth watched as the Marines slogged their way through the mess of Storm and Promethean defenses. Finally, satisfied that the UNSC would breach the gravity well, she disappeared into the teleportation grid.

 **(100 miles Southeast: 2 hours later)**

"Sir, are you sure this is the way?" Rex asked as he surveyed the rocky path.

Anakin let out a sigh as he stared out beyond the AT-TE and into the dark wall of trees and undergrowth on either side. He was starting to wonder himself. The Darkside was growing stronger, the further they went. Yet they had seen no signs of life. By this point, not even the native birds were around to be disturbed. Anakin grabbed the back of the gunner's seat for support as he turned to Rex.

"Yes," he answered.

There was more confidence in Anakin's voice than he truly felt. Rex seemed to notice and the nod of his head was hesitant. For the next several minutes there was silence between the two. The only sounds to be heard were the whine of servos and the periodic chatter between increasingly restless tank crews.

Then, it happened. Anakin shuddered as he felt the cold tentacle snake up his neck. This time it was worse than the first go around. Working off a hunch, Anakin fought against every instinct and kept his mental shields down.

"All stop," he immediately called.

"All stop," Rex relayed.

Anakin nearly slid off, and the gunner swore as the tank dug it's mechanical legs into the ground. As he righted himself, Anakin made a motion with his arm. In response, Rex gave the order to dismount. He followed his former CO as clones began pouring out of the transports.

"Let's go. We're making the rest of this trip on foot," Anakin declared.

Rex nodded as he barked orders to his men. Two squads hastily separated themselves from the rest of the Company. Their orders were relatively simple. Protect the tanks. The AT-RTs also stayed behind. This left Anakin and the rest of Torrent Company to make the trip.

Anakin took the lead without so much as a second thought. The Clones fanned out behind him as they continued their trek up. Here, the road made a series of blind corners as it turned up a hillside. As they rounded one such corner, Anakin froze as he ignited his lightsaber. Behind him, training took over and every blaster came up.

"Hold your fire," Anakin commanded.

Anakin was both worried and confused as his eyes drifted across the woman. On the outside, she was anything but imposing. The woman was obviously exhausted from physical exertion. Her silver eyes were sharp but full of fear, while her dark hair was a dirty, tangled mess. Sweat glistened in the bright sunlight, while her simple white gown was tinted from the same sweat that seemed to make her sparkle.

Anakin reached out in the force. Much to his surprise, there was nothing. There was no darkness. There was no light. Anakin's eyes turned to saucers as he realized, that she had no force signature. She was completely removed. He opened his mouth to speak, but was it was her that spoke.

"Please…" she pleaded between gulps of air, "You have to help me… They're coming. You have-"

"Stop!" Rex ordered as he pointed both pistols at her head.

Anakin tensed as he recalled the Chief's description of Abeloth.

"Why should we help you?" he demanded.

"Pl-please. There's no time. The guards, they- They've gone insane," she pressed while taking another step.

"Don't move," Anakin ordered as he quietly motioned for the Company to hold.

"Who-"

"Please sir. I can-"

"No. Who is after-"

Suddenly, Anakin's comm link came to life.

"This is Rancor 1. We have multiple contacts. I repeat: We have multiple contacts. Combat expected," called one of tank commanders.

Abeloth's eyes turned into saucers as she muttered, "It's too late."

Anakin had the command channel, but Rex had the main channel, and it was flooding with activity.

"Watch it. Contacts on your six."

"Two more- Three o'clock high."

"Where are they coming-"

"Watch the orbs!"

"I see- Argh!"

"Twelve more on the road."

"I see 'em… Going hot."

"Oh hell… Two appearing on the tank."

Rex listened to the flood of information. If his math was correct, their tanks were in serious danger of being overrun.

"Sir, we need to pull back," he whispered.

"I know. Go now," he ordered.

"But-"

"I've got her," Anakin announced.

Rex nodded and began issuing orders and leading the clones back. At the same time, Anakin lunged forward. He had every intention of killing her. He couldn't feel her power now, but he knew it was there. Just because she could hide her power didn't mean she wasn't a threat.

Yet he couldn't follow through. He would never know what stopped him, but at the last second, he thumbed the switch on his lightsaber. The blade disappeared and Anakin's arm wrapped around the back of Abeloth's neck. As she was pulled down, he drove his knee up into her solar-plexus. As Abeloth went staggering back, he flipped his lightsaber around and slammed the butt of it into her head. Her eyes rolled back as she hit the ground. Anakin scooped her up, and took off toward the tanks.

* * *

"Step on them if you have to. Just get those tanks moving, now!" Rex snapped over the weapons fire.

He ignored the acknowledgement as he began issuing further orders. In response, Torrent Company split into two groups. One went right and one went left. Rex lead the first group down the left embankment. His goal was simple. Get wide of the road and flank them. Rex continued to watch the fight as he lead his men into the jungle. Luckily, the hostile force wasn't overly big. They were just milking the element of surprise.

Luckily, the defenders had drawn them in tight to the tanks. This was good and bad. It gave Rex's men command of the perimeter, but compromised the tanks. As if to highlight the risk, one of the AT-RTs went crashing to the ground. Rex watched with horror as the driver disappeared into thousands of screaming pixels.

By this point, the tanks were marching backward down the road, firing on anything that moved. More than once, Rex was forced to duck as explosions sent debris raining down on him.

"Unit 1, in position," Rex reported as he waved his men down.

"Unit 2, in position," reported the officer on the other end.

"Ready…" Rex waited for the just the right moment, "Ready… Execute!"

The view from the lead commander's scope told the story best. All at once, the AT-TE commander watched as a sea of white materialized along the road. That sea came crashing down as streams of blue lasers ran ahead of the charging clones. The Prometheans were cut down by overwhelming firepower. Crawlers, and Knights all disappeared in flashes of orange light as the clones took back their embattled tanks.

The counter attack was quick and decisive. By the time, Anakin caught up with his prisoner, the dust had settled and head counts were being conducted.

"That was quick," Anakin noted as he hoisted the woman up, "How far out is air support?"

Rex shook his head as he wrapped Abeloth's binders in a death grip.

"Five minutes. At this rate, it looks like we won't need the medivac," he reported solemnly.

Underneath, Anakin detected an air of pride in his handy work. He wasn't surprised as Rex had always prided himself in being able to salvage operations without air support.

"So it seems," Anakin agreed hesitantly.

The entire situation made his skin crawl. It was one thing to see and hear of death. By this point it was all too familiar. He could handle the blood, gore, screaming, and tears. From the the slave markets of tatooine to the battlegrounds of Geonosis and Felucia, his life had been marked by that. What Anakin couldn't handle was the silence. He couldn't handle the thought of fearless warriors disappearing into thin air, while their agonizing screams continued to pierce through his consciousness.

Soon there was a silence only broken twice. The first was by Rex's grim casualty report, and the second was by the overhead roar of gunships. The armed craft stayed close as the tanks lumbered back for the relative safety of the Infinity.

"What's the status on that gravity well?" Anakin finally quizzed.

"Not totally sure, sir," Hawk answered, "Last I heard, Gypsy company had descended into the seventh hell and was struggling to make headway."

"I told the Captain, that was a stupid idea," Rex grumbled, "They don't have the manpower for that kind of fight."

Anakin was about to answer when Dagger threw the top hatch open.

"Sir, the prisoner's awake," he reported crisply.

"Alright, get your men topside. I want a word with her, alone," Anakin ordered.

"Yes sir."

As soon as the Sergeant and his men were up top, Anakin dropped down into the deployment bay of the AT-TE. Waiting for him was a totally different woman. While still holding her down, the seat harness and binders non-existent. Abeloth sat high in the seat, with her hair shifted out of her face and her hands relaxed on her lap. Her face was formed into a frown while her silver eyes bore cut right through Anakin.

"You're men need to work on their manors," she observed.

Anakin ignored the comment and demanded, "Who are you?"

Even as Abeloth allowed the faintest of smiles, the ice remained in her eyes.

"I have so many names… So many affiliations… Which one do you want?" she purred.

"You're human. You're on this planet. Give me what I don't know," Anakin ordered.

"Such simple lies, hiding such a complex truth," she purred.

The cryptic response caused Anakin to clench his fists in frustration. For a brief second, he reconsidered letting her live. With a scowl, he purged the idea from his mind before it could materialize. If Abeloth noticed any of this, she did not give any sign as she picked up again.

"The builders of this place called me 'The Bringer of Chaos'. The Diadact rejected that name in favor of 'Abeloth'. In reality, both names contain truth," she elaborated.

Anakin nodded, and formulated his next question. However, before he could speak, Abeloth produced her own question.

"You killed them, didn't you?" she asked.

The question was plain. Abeloth asked it as though she were confirming the time of day. Yet the smallest of ripples through the force gave it the missing edge of accusation.

'Killed who?" Anakin recoiled.

"My family… I felt them go," she answered.

Anakin let out a regretful sigh as he sifted through his memory.

"I wouldn't know," Anakin admitted before lying, "The faces blend together after a while."

"No, Anakin, they don't. You're men have forgotten, but you haven't. The names fall away, but the faces don't," Abeloth rebuked.

Anakin frowned.

"How did-"

"I know many things," she stated with a grin, "I know why killed them."

Anakin felt the heat rise in his cheeks as he opened his mouth to speak. Yet, no words would come out.

Abeloth's voice took on a predatory tone as she continued, "It's all the same. It's the same reason you killed Palpatine… Why you killed Windu… _Your wife_."

Anakin's anger suddenly shot to the surface.

"No!" Anakin yelled as he lashed out.

The durasteel sidewall creased outward as Anakin slammed his fist into it. Abeloth snickered.

"You put her at risk when you ran. Who was to protect her? Obi Wan distrusted her. You're men didn't care about her. What did you think would happen while you hid retreated back into the dark abyss of war," Abeloth chided.

"'Such simple lies'," Anakin muttered.

"To hide the complex truth," she picked up, "Now you have started to understand."

Anakin didn't bother to answer as fire raged in his eyes.

"I think we're done for now," he decided.

Abeloth let out a small laugh. As Anakin started for the ladder, it grew in both volume and insanity until her maniacal laughter was reverberating off every wall. It wasn't until Anakin was about to close the hatch that it stopped.

"Skywalker," she purred, "We're far from done."

Anakin didn't respond, but turned to Sergeant Dagger and his equally worried looking squad.

"You're up. She doesn't move," he ordered.

"Yes sir," Dagger answered crisply.

Anakin dismissed the worry radiating off the Sergeant as he turned to Rex.

"Get on the comm with Captain Del Rio. See if he'll let us keep our guest in his brig," he ordered.

"We just heard from him. The Company finally disabled the gravity well," Rex advised.

His words sent a made Anakin's gut churn.

"They're positive?" he pressed.

"Yes."

Anakin's face couldn't decide if it wanted to turn green or pale. The Force screamed of danger, and the effects were nauseating. He turned his head, expecting to see Abeloth burst out of the tank. Yet there was nothing. Green it was, then.

"Doesn't matter. I want her on that ship. Admiral Yularen doesn't need the extra complication of holding her," Anakin declared, "The Infinity at least knows it's location in the universe."

"Yes sir." Rex acknowledged.


End file.
